Dampierre Nuclear Power Plant
Encyclopedia
The Dampierre nuclear power plant is located in the town of Dampierre-en-Burly
Dampierre-en-Burly
Dampierre-en-Burly is a commune in the Loiret department in north-central France.-See also:*Communes of the Loiret department...

 (Loiret
Loiret
Loiret is a department in north-central FranceThe department is named after the river Loiret, a tributary of the Loire. The Loiret is located wholly within the department.- History :...

), 55 km upstream of Orleans and 110 km downstream of Nevers, it uses water from the Loire
Loire
Loire is an administrative department in the east-central part of France occupying the River Loire's upper reaches.-History:Loire was created in 1793 when after just 3½ years the young Rhône-et-Loire department was split into two. This was a response to counter-Revolutionary activities in Lyon...

 for cooling.

Approximately 1,100 people work at the site.

Seismic risk

According to a report by the Nuclear Safety Authority in October 2002, certain functions providing backup cooling for the reactor could not be ensured in the event of an earthquake.

Incidents

On 2 April 2001, during the unit 4 refueling outage, an operator made a mistake in producing the nuclear assembly loading pattern, of which 30% were MOX fuel
MOX fuel
Mixed oxide fuel, commonly referred to as MOX fuel, is nuclear fuel that contains more than one oxide of fissile material. MOX fuel contains plutonium blended with natural uranium, reprocessed uranium, or depleted uranium. MOX fuel is an alternative to the low-enriched uranium fuel used in the...

. The reloading operation was stopped and the core was fully discharged. The incident was reclassified by the ASP at Level 1 of the INES
Ines
Ines is a variation of the name Agnes.Ines may also refer to:* Inès, French variation of the name* Saint Ines * Inés Sainz Ines is a variation of the name Agnes.Ines may also refer to:* Inès, French variation of the name* Saint Ines (c. 291 – c. 304)* Inés Sainz Ines is a variation of the name...

 scale.

On the night of 9 to 10 April 2007, reactor No. 3 went on emergency standby and remained so throughout the night; it was supplied with emergency power by an emergency generator. EDF
Électricité de France
Électricité de France S.A. is the second largest French utility company. Headquartered in Paris, France, with €65.2 billion in revenues in 2010, EDF operates a diverse portfolio of 120,000+ megawatts of generation capacity in Europe, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa.EDF is one of...

 triggered an emergency plan to 22h10. Throughout the night, teams acted in emergency mode, the reactor No. 3 having been deprived of its external power. The emergency generator worked well. The ASN
Autorité de sûreté nucléaire
The Autorité de sûreté nucléaire is an independent French administrative authority set up by law 2006-686 of 13 June 2006 concerning nuclear transparency and safety. Its task, on behalf of the State, is to regulate nuclear safety and radiation protection in order to protect workers, patients, the...

 has established a national crisis with the support of the IRSN. EDF and DSC
DSC
-in academia:* D.Sc., Doctor of Science* Doctor of Surgical Chiropody, superseded in the 1960s by Doctor of Podiatric Medicine* Dalton State College, Georgia* Daytona State College, Florida* Deep Springs College, California* Dixie State College of Utah...

lifted the crisis the following morning at 8:15. Following this incident, the No. 3 reactor remained shut down for several weeks to correct the problem.
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